


Dan's Realization

by brightblackholes



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, basically dan finally understands the obvious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5555624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightblackholes/pseuds/brightblackholes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"The person you’re in love with is supposed to be the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, so would his view of Phil change after he met that person? Or was his current mindset an indication that he already had?"</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dan's Realization

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated!  
> I'm not the most satisfied with this one, but I thought I'd post it anyway so if you wanna give me feedback that would be great.

Dan was used to people assuming that he and Phil were dating. It happened all the time: other YouTubers meeting them for the first time at a party would quietly ask their friends if they just weren’t out to the fans yet, people new to watching their videos would ask about it in the comments section, people on the street even seemed to think so when they were out together. Once, while they were buying groceries and arguing about cereal again (“Seriously, Phil, this box is mine, okay? Don’t steal any from it. We’ll get you your own.” “But it tastes different when it’s all mine.” “ _Phil._ ”), an elderly lady came up to them and remarked that it was nice to see such a handsome young couple about, especially since she could tell how much they genuinely cared about each other. Phil smiled and said thank you, so Dan didn’t bother correcting her. When a similar thing happened with a waiter at a restaurant, they went along with it again, because it really wasn’t anything new. PewDiePie referred to them as a power couple in one of his videos. A whole slew of people on the internet thought they were secretly dating and wrote stories about it, so Dan never really gave it much thought until Louise happened to change that.

“Dan,” she asked gently, moving his legs from where he had them resting on the couch so she could sit down after putting some cookies in the oven. Dan loved inviting Louise over and doing some baking with her, especially when she used her secret recipe that made the entire flat smell absolutely delicious.

“Phil is almost 30 now, you realize that, right? Only one more birthday after this one.”

Dan blinked.

“Um, yeah. It’s a bit weird, though, isn’t it? He doesn’t seem that old,” he replied, a bit confused as to how they got onto this topic. Phil was out with a university friend of his who was in town, and they hadn’t been talking about him during the baking, although Dan wouldn’t be surprised if Louise was about to suggest they throw him a surprise party or something.

“No, he doesn’t. But he is.” Louise fell silent, and it carried on for a few seconds before it became apparent that she wasn’t going to say anything more. Dan had a nagging feeling that she expected him to continue the conversation.

“Are you trying to tell me something that I’m missing here? Like, is there a question I’m supposed to answer?”

“What would you do if Phil found someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and decided to get married?” she asked delicately.

Dan suddenly felt very cold all over.

“He--he hasn’t, has he? I would know if he was dating someone. I’m his flatmat, and I’m not that oblivious.”

“No, no no no, he hasn’t,” she said, and Dan’s sigh of relief was perhaps a bit too audible, “but it is a possibility. People have gotten married at younger. Take me, for example.”

“Yeah, but you’re you. You were ready early. You’re just the kind of person who gets married and becomes a mom and all that domestic stuff. That’s not even a valid argument.”

“Jim Chapman is married, and he’s twenty-seven.”

“But that’s _Jim_ ,” Dan protested, “not Phil. There’s a difference.”

Louise gave him a considering look. “Have you thought about what might happen if you meet someone?”

“Um.” The truthful answer was _absolutely not_. Not for a long time, at least. He liked his arrangement with Phil. It was fun. It was comfortable. They would watch animes over breakfast, do gaming videos together, go on trips, and do interviews. They wrote a book together, and if either of them ever needed an extra hand for one of their videos, they would just shout for the other. With Phil, he knew which one of them was ordering dinner and he had someone to help with dishes when they made something instead of got take-out, and he always had his best friend literally just a room over.

Dan actually hadn’t really flirted with anyone in over a year, possibly more. Sure, what few social events he went to typically had a lot of people who were interested, but once it went from casual talking to flirtation he changed the subject or made an excuse to leave for the bathroom or get a beverage. He just wasn’t very interested in that. His idea of a fun night had turn into _Buffy_ marathons with Phil, not going home with some girl or taking one out on a date. He didn’t even mind the constant commentary and random facts from the episodes anymore; he found it endearing.

“I don’t think I’m going to anytime soon. Why dwell on it before I have to?” he replied eventually.

“Well, you can’t just stay in this flat with Phil forever.”

The buzzer went off, and Dan was extremely thankful he didn’t have to try to come up with a response for that. The fact of the matter was that that was exactly what he wanted to do. Whenever he ventured to have a thought about the long term future (which he tried not to do often), Phil was always living with him and they were always living their lives together. At this point their lives were so intertwined that even if Dan had wanted to separate them, he wasn’t sure he would be able to. He liked it that way.

Perhaps he liked it a bit too much for it to be completely normal.

He thought about it a lot after Louise left. Just friends don’t get separation anxiety and have long telephone conversations at least once a day when they’re apart. They don’t usually eat homemade meals in companionable silence with their ankles intertwined. They certainly don’t have to ask to have a question repeated because they’re staring at the other and thinking _I could stay with this person for the rest of my life and be the happiest human being on the planet_.

The person you’re in love with is supposed to be the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, so would his view of Phil change after he met that person? Or was his current mindset an indication that he already had?

Existential crises were easier to think though than this, so when Phil got back they sat in front of the tele and watched reruns of _The Great British Bake-Off_ and Dan pushed everything to the back of his mind and didn’t think about it until a conversation with PJ.

“So where’s your other half tonight?” PJ asked over the thumping of the baseline and constant clamor of people in the bar. PJ had invited him and Phil out for a chance to meet up and relax after all the stress of _Oscar’s Hotel_ and TATINOF, but Dan was alone tonight.

“He’s promised to get a video out tonight and is desperately trying to edit it in time, then he’s heading out to visit his parents for a few days early tomorrow,” Dan replied. PJ laughed quietly, and Dan gave the curly-haired man a confused look. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just that I asked about your other half and you immediately talked about Phil, no hesitation,” he chuckled.

“Okay though, who else would you be talking about? It’s not like there’s anyone else it could be.”

“I know, I know,” PJ said, waving a hand in the air. “I expected you to answer about Phil. I just forget how domestic you two are sometimes.”

The night continued like normal from there, and Dan enjoyed himself and refused to think of the fact that he protesting hadn’t even crossed his mind when PJ referred to Phil as his other half. When he got home, he brushed his teeth, told Phil not to pull an all-nighter and that the fans would understand if he didn’t get the video edited or if Dan had to upload it for him tomorrow, then put in some headphones and tried to go to sleep earlier than usual.

The next few days without Phil weren’t the most pleasant. Dan could survive on his own, but there were days when he didn’t leave the flat at all, and it was always nice to have contact with another human being. Besides, the flat always felt too big when there was only one person in it. All of the sounds he made echoed too much.

“I miss you,” Dan told him that night over the phone, and it was fine; it was normal for them.

Phil breathed a laugh. “I know. I miss you, too. But I’ll be back in two days, and then I can kick your butt at Mario Kart.”

“You can try!”

When Phil did return, Dan gave him a ten second hug like usual, and then they had stir fry for dinner like usual, and then they went into the gaming room for Mario Kart like usual. Phil hit him with a blue shell, and amidst the swearing and Phil’s triumphant laughter, Dan was hit with the realization that _he didn’t want this to ever end_. It was just a usual night, but in that moment he didn’t think it could be any more perfect.

“Phil?” he asked, glancing over just briefly enough to not die.

“Hm?” he hummed in response.

“Is it okay if I’m maybe a bit in love with you?”

“Yeah, Dan. That’s perfectly fine.”

“Can I keep living with you forever?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”


End file.
